Samsung Galaxy S23 FE Review

Samsung’s FE collection has all the time been a fan favorite for the reason that first Samsung Galaxy S20 FE was launched with nearly flagship-level specs and a value that sits proper between the highest-end A Series smartphone and the entry-level S Series smartphone. This yr, Samsung launched two FE units, the refreshed S21 FE with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 888 and the brand new Samsung Galaxy S23 FE with Exynos 2200 SoC and plenty of the options that may make the smartphone appear to be a flagship on paper. Does the extremely anticipated Samsung Galaxy S23 FE ship on the model’s promise after they launched the primary ‘Fan Edition’ smartphone, and do you have to purchase it at a beginning value of Rs. 59,999? Let’s discover out on this detailed Samsung Galaxy S23 FE assessment.

Samsung Galaxy S23 FE value in India

I’ve been utilizing the bottom variant for the Samsung Galaxy S23 FE with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage within the Mint color possibility, which is priced at Rs. 59,999. The Samsung Galaxy S23 FE is offered in a higher-end 256GB storage variant as properly, with the identical quantity of RAM, that’s 8GB for Rs. 64,999, which makes this smartphone come very near the vanilla Samsung Galaxy S23 that comes geared up with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC. The smartphone may be purchased in two extra color choices: Graphite and Purple. The model has additionally launched two particular version color choices for this smartphone, Indigo and Tangerine, which might solely be purchased by their official web site. The 256GB storage variant is an effective addition, however a higher-end variant with extra RAM would’ve been higher and justified the worth extra.

Samsung Galaxy S23 FE Review: Design

The Samsung Galaxy S23 FE sports activities a design that could be acquainted to many individuals. It makes use of the identical design language because the Samsung Galaxy S23 and the Samsung Galaxy A54, with matte-finished aluminium aspect rails, quantity rockers and an influence key that could be very responsive and tactile, as a flagship smartphone ought to. The smartphone makes use of a twin nano sim card slot with an choice to both use one bodily and an E-Sim or two bodily SIM playing cards on the similar time. It doesn’t include expandable storage, which is barely disappointing. It comes geared up with a USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C port and stereo audio system which can be decently loud. The smartphone comes geared up with Corning’s Gorilla Glass 5 safety for the show and the again panel with a shiny end as an alternative of the matte end that the Samsung Galaxy S23 sports activities.

The smartphone sports activities Gorilla Glass 5 on the entrance in addition to on the again.

This makes the smartphone vulnerable to fingerprints and smudges loads. At 8.22mm thick, the smartphone feels somewhat thicker than your normal smartphone, and 209 grams of weight places it on the heavier aspect. It is IP68 licensed for mud and water resistance, which is a plus. I had the smartphone with me for an honest period of time and used it with out a case. After only some days, I began noticing scuffs and scratches on the show glass, protected by Corning’s Gorilla Glass 5. The smartphone is somewhat slippery with out the case. Despite the thicker chassis and better weight, the smartphone nonetheless carries the premium appear and feel that Samsung flagships are recognized for.

Samsung Galaxy S23 FE Review: Display

Samsung Galaxy S23 FE sports activities a 6.4-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X show with a 1080 x 2340 pixels decision. The show itself is spectacular, regardless of if I speak concerning the colors that it produces or the sharpness. I did not have any complaints on that entrance, however the bezels are notably thick for a smartphone that prices greater than 50K and is marketed as an entry-level flagship by the producer. I’d be mendacity if I stated it disappears after you immerse your self in content material; it would not and stares proper in your face.

Samsung Galaxy S23 FE contains a flat show

It is HDR10+ licensed and helps a peak brightness of as much as 1450 nits, which feels tremendous vivid indoors and outside. I didn’t see a lot discolouration on the show whereas utilizing the smartphone in harsh daylight. The smartphone enables you to select between a normal 60Hz refresh or an adaptive refresh fee of 120Hz. It feels easy throughout the board whereas scrolling by the UI and apps or gaming.

Samsung Galaxy S23 FE Review: Camera

It sports activities a triple-rear digicam setup that features the first 50-megapixel digicam with an f1.8 aperture with a 24mm focal vary that comes geared up with OIS, an 8-megapixel telephoto digicam that gives 3x optical zoom with f2.4 aperture and a 75mm focal vary with OIS and lastly a 12-megapixel ultra-wide digicam with f2.2 aperture.

Samsung Galaxy S23 FE options the signature Galaxy design language

The smartphone does a reasonably good job when specializing in shifting topics, because of the inclusion of PDAF for the first in addition to the telephoto digicam. Daylight pictures from the first digicam got here out fairly properly; it produced loads of sharp photographs from nook to nook and had good particulars within the shadows and the spotlight.

Samsung Galaxy S23 FE daylight major digicam samples (faucet to see full measurement)

Bokeh with out the portrait mode seems to be very pleasing, and to my shock, this Samsung smartphone did not overdo with saturation ranges. The telephoto digicam additionally maintained the identical saturation ranges however produced barely softer photographs.

Samsung Galaxy S23 FE daylight telephoto digicam samples (faucet to see full measurement)

This smartphone’s ultrawide digicam maintains the color scheme like the 2 different rear cameras, however the photographs are inclined to distort loads on the corners, which may very well be fastened with a future software program replace.

Samsung Galaxy S23 FE daylight ultra-wide digicam samples (faucet to see full measurement)

The smartphone has a 10-megapixel digicam for selfies, which clicks fairly detailed photographs in daylight.

Samsung Galaxy S23 FE selfie digicam samples (faucet to see full measurement)

The Samsung Galaxy S23 FE additionally has digicam system for nighttime pictures. The photographs take longer to shoot, however OIS helps the consumer with it, and the pictures you get look fairly good. I did discover some noise within the ultrawide pictures.

Samsung Galaxy S23 FE nighttime digicam samples (faucet to see full measurement)

It makes use of a 10-megapixel digicam with f2.4 for selfies that does a superb job with daylight, nighttime and portrait pictures. It maintains the color scheme as the opposite cameras on board, and you’ll discover that there’s some post-processing taking place within the background after you click on, because it takes a second to point out the ultimate picture.

The smartphone can shoot as much as 8K 24fps with the first digicam; this can be a characteristic that you don’t see fairly often on a smartphone on this value vary. I shot a number of handheld 8K movies utilizing this smartphone, and I used to be impressed with the outcomes I bought. The movies had been stabilised, had loads of particulars and had loads of dynamic vary to mess around with if you happen to ever need to edit these movies. It can shoot 4K 60fps movies as properly. The entrance digicam, too, can shoot movies at as much as 4K 60fps, which is fairly good for content material creators.

Samsung Galaxy S23 FE Review: Battery and Charging

The 4500mAh battery does an honest job for a light-weight utilization day, however as quickly as you embody gaming and video streaming, with a excessive refresh fee turned on, the smartphone doesn’t final very lengthy. The Samsung S23 FE lasted 16 hours and 25 minutes in our battery loop take a look at. Considering Samsung doesn’t present a charger contained in the retail package deal, assist for charging would have been appreciated, as 25W charging assist is method too gradual for 2023. In our testing, the smartphone charged as much as 25% in half-hour and 65% in an hour, which is method too gradual in comparison with the competitors on this value vary.

Samsung Galaxy S23 FE Review: Performance

Samsung S23 FE makes use of Samsung’s Exynos 2200 4nm SoC in India and never Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 that the shoppers within the US are getting, which is a bummer, at the least on paper. We ran all of the required benchmarks on the Samsung Galaxy S23 FE, and the outcomes had been fairly good. It scored 1,174,800 on AnTuTu v.10.0.10, 1130 single core and 3232 for GeekBench 6. I performed Call of Duty & Real Racing 3, which ran simply wonderful with excessive graphic settings.

The smartphone options the 4nm Exynos 2200 SoC

The frames did not drop loads, and the gameplay was easy. The smartphone did get somewhat heat after every gaming session. The Samsung Galaxy S23 FE runs OneUI 5.1 out of the field, which is predicated on Android 13, and it provides a reasonably easy consumer expertise and doesn’t have plenty of pre-installed apps.

Samsung Galaxy S23 FE Review: Verdict

The Samsung Galaxy S23 FE is a smartphone targeted on shoppers who want to get the flagship expertise however don’t need to spend on one thing like a Samsung Galaxy S23 or S23+. This one lives as much as the FE legacy with flagship-level cameras, show, respectable battery life and a terrific processor for nearly something you need to do with this smartphone. All this mixed does ship a premium expertise, provided that you possibly can dwell with thicker bezels on a smartphone that prices greater than 50K in 2023. Considering this smartphone doesn’t have expandable storage, the bottom 128GB storage variant may not be adequate for most individuals and shopping for the 256GB variant places this smartphone within the sub 65K value class, which is already very saturated with the likes of OnePlus 11 (Review) with higher efficiency and trendy wanting curved show.